the first 2008 presidential debate between the president and john mccain got seven times the audience of the highest rated 2012 republican primary debate. think about that. seven times. past debates show romney and obama have to worry about cut away shots that are less than flattering. in the past both candidates have come across as irritable, patronizing or disengaged. this was chris christie's advice to the candidates yesterday. >> what you do is go out and be yourself. and people either like it or don't. if they don't, they are going to vote for somebody else. not a tragedy. no one dies. >> finally speaking of debates, there was a barn burner last night in massachusetts where scott brown and democratic challenger elizabeth warren faced off in a debate. moderated by nbc's david gregory. it was tense from the outset. >> if you're going to comment on my record, i would at least have you refer to it -- excuse me. i'm not a student in your classroom. please let me respond, okay? >> that was an echo of a quip brown used in 2010 when he told martha kwaurkly i'm not in your courtroom, i'm